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The Philadelphians in Concert on WRTI: Tubist Carol Jantsch in the Spotlight!

Courtesy of The Philadelphia Orchestra
Carol Jantsch is principal tuba of The Philadelphia Orchestra.

Tune in on Sunday, August 8th at 1 PM on WRTI 90.1, and on Monday, August 9th at 7 PM on WRTI HD-2, for a rebroadcast of a concert from The Philadelphia Orchestra's 2014-2015 season. Carol Jantsch, principal tuba of the orchestra since 2006, stood front and center on the Verizon Hall stage to perform as soloist in a work written for her – Michael Daugherty’s Reflections on the Mississippi.  

Composer Michael Daugherty

The tuba concerto is a work that Daugherty calls “a musical reflection on family trips to the Mississippi River during my childhood.”  

The large, low, and hefty foundation of an orchestra’s brass section rarely gets to be in the spotlight, let alone to be the soloist in a concerto.  And you’ll hear it make sounds you’ve never heard from a tuba before when played by Carol Jantsch.

Not many of her fans are aware that Ms. Jantsch won the position of principal tuba while still in her senior year at the University of Michigan, becoming the first female tuba player in a major symphony orchestra.  In addition to her duties in The Philadelphia Orchestra, she is a renowned tuba soloist, and has performed the world over. 

Also on the program, Mahler’s powerful Symphony No. 5, traversing a wide range of moods leading to the triumphant coda of the finale. Along the way is the famous fourth movement, the Adagietto, scored for harp and strings, which was Mahler’s haunting hymn of love to his new young wife, Alma.

Conductor Gianandrea Noseda

The concert is led by Musical America’s 2015 Conductor of the Year, Gianandrea Noseda, who, among other positions, has been music director of the National Symphony since 2017. Before that, as music director from 2007  to 2018, he propelled the Teatro Regio Torino into the ranks of the leading opera houses of the world. 

WRTI's Kile Smith speaks with conductor Gianandrea Noseda.
WRTI's Kile Smith speaks with conductor Gianandrea Noseda.

During intermission of this 2015 concert broadcast, WRTI's Susan Lewis and Kile Smith spoke backstage with Carol Jantsch,  Michael Daugherty, and Maestro Noseda.

Detailed program from The Philadelphia Orchestra

PROGRAM:

Michael Daugherty: Reflections on the Mississippi, for Tuba and Orchestra

Carol Jantsch, tuba

Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 5

Gianandrea Noseda, conductor

Listen to The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert broadcasts every Sunday at 1 PM on WRTI 90.1 FM and Monday at 7 PM on WRTI HD-2. Gregg Whiteside is producer and host.

Gregg was the host of WRTI's morning drive show from 2012 until his retirement from WRTI in January, 2021. He began producing and hosting The Philadelphia Orchestra In Concert broadcasts in 2013, joining the Orchestra in Hong Kong for the first-ever live international radio broadcasts from that island in 2016, and in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for two historic broadcasts in 2018. You can still hear Gregg as host of the Orchestra broadcasts every Sunday and Monday on WRTI.